Deborah Kingston

Professor Harris Ramsby

ENGLISH 1050

February 8th 2018

The Quandary of “Othering”

Through continued research on the topic of “othering” I come to find myself in a

persistent historical predicament about the ideas and concepts of shaming another individual

for who they are, where they grew up and their perplexity of cultural backgrounds. By

definition, I would describe it in my own words that othering is an action by which an individual

or group becomes mentally classified in somebody’s mind as “not one of us.” Who is US?

“Us” is a word which a speaker refers to themselves as a self-centered idea that restricts an open mind

about their surrounding community and expansion of our society’s cultural economy.

“Othering” diminishes another individual’s right to be worthy of the proper respect and

dignity that we feel that we are entitled to ourselves. It is a cowardly act that is self-seeking,

self-absorbed and highly ignorant towards the feelings of others. This physiological tactic may

have had its uses in our tribal past. Group cohesion was crucially important in the early days of

human civilization and required strong demarcation between our allies and our enemies. To

thrive, we needed to be a part of a close nit tribe who’d look out for us in exchange for knowing

that we would help to look out for them of our same kind. People in your tribe or so to speak

your community, your family or your circle of conversationalist and or coworkers, whomever

you tend to be around and consequently may share your genes, are those in which you feel are

the same. Can we all relate in some way? Where “othering” has opposed us and interfered with
our own needs as human beings. There are specific needs and attributes that mankind possess,

we all need food and shelter to survive, we all need to have a sense of purpose, drive for life and

why we are here. “Othering” others is a senseless demeaning act in which we don’t even

understand our own securities of who we are as mankind on this earth. As discussed from Tiare

Gonzales’ discussion, she states on January 24th in her words, “If true equality is sought,

then views from all perspectives need to be taken into consideration.” I agree with those

ideals one hundred percent.

Above all and most importantly, there is a powerful evolutionary drive to identify

yourself in some way to a group of individuals where each person has a need for a sense of

belonging where you have fellow supporters. As a result, we identify ourselves with a similar

tribe of people who are “like you” This idea causes individuals to stereotype and put people into

different classifications from their background roots and aspects of how they live. Intergroup

bias is a well-established psychological trait that happens even to the best of us. All of us have

heard the famous line, “If you’re not with us your against us”. This is a simple concept or idea

used frequently in many forms of life. Within college and school settings, even starting as little

as preschool or elementary. The popular kids, the nerds, the geeks, the bullies, they are all

stereotyped “othering” from one group of individuals to the next. Even through every stage of

life, you see this type of reaction from us all, I am guilty of the act myself. It’s in the workforce,

through college through people’s career choices and etc.

A nation as one, we are not. Learning to embrace only those of our tribe and reject others

even when there are differences that are entirely arbitrary and meaningless are acts of little

integrity of others needs and leads to disharmony over our leadership, our country, within our
own families and society. What happened to the well-known saying and ideas of Christian

beliefs of treat others as you would want to be treated, be kind, be open, and be willing to care

for someone else other than yourself and your own ideals. “Stand by those principles, be true

to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.” ( pg 463) No

person’s ideals or cultural beliefs hold higher regard than other individuals unless it would

include harming, hurting or hindering another human beings personal success and wellbeing.

What do we practice as an economy in our ethical ways of how we should conduct ourselves

when we treat others around us regardless of color, religious beliefs, cultural backgrounds and

etc? It says,“There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds

which lower above the horizon.” (pg 461) But still a more inhuman, disgraceful, and

scandalous state of things remains to be presented. (pg 469)

“Trump may not realize it but he may be afflicted with an inherent belief in

“othering” Othering exceeds scapegoating and denigration because it denies for the other

characteristics enjoyed by your own group. Thus racial, religious or sexual minorities and

other nationalities can be exploited, oppressed and even killed by denying their essential

humanity. Othering occurred in history when civilizations without previous contact

confronted each other, as when colonizing Europeans viewed the Americas as populated by

savages.” https//banyanhill.com/othering-and-the-immigration-debate/
 Works Cited

https//banyanhill.com/othering-and-the-immigration-debate/

Tiare Gonzales “Discussion on January 24th”

What to the slave is the fourth of july, by Frederick Douglas pg, 461, 463, 469
 Revision plan
1) Original: Clearly “us” is a metaphor to which a speaker refers to himself or herself as a
self-centered idea that restricts an open mind about our economic expansion in our
community, our society, and even our country.

Revised: “Us” is a word which a speaker refers to themselves as a self-centered idea that restricts an open
mind about their surrounding community and expansion of our society’s cultural economy.

Note: I did not need to specify what was and wasn’t clear to the reader, or form too much run on
words throughout the sentence. Metaphor was not the correct description to include because it
wasn’t a fact about the word “Us”

2) Original: Othering causes all of us to dismiss our surrounding fellows as being in some way,
less human and less worthy of the proper respect and dignity, than what we are entitled to.

Revised: “Othering” diminishes another individual’s right to be worthy of the proper respect and dignity
that we feel that we are entitled to ourselves.

Note: Othering wouldn’t necessarily cause anyone to be less human, because it doesn’t shape the
human creation itself, that isn’t necessary to add to my comments.

3) Original: I can honestly say that we can all relate in some way or another, because we are
human and come from the same species, therefore, there are specific needs and attributes that mankind
possess as human beings.

Revised: .Can we all relate in some way? Where “othering” has opposed us and interfered with
our own needs as human beings. There are specific needs and attributes that mankind possess,
we all need food and shelter to survive, we all need to have a sense of purpose, drive for life and
why we are here.
Note: I felt it necessarily to elaborate more on this idea in a more meaningful and
professional way that describes the scenario to the audience and reader in more detail.
4) Original: No person’s ideals hold higher regard than another’s ideals except when it
comes to the idea that it would harm, hurt or hinder another human beings personal success and
well-being. What happened to the ideas or economical ethical ways of how we should conduct
ourselves in the way that we treat others around us regardless of age, color, race, religious
background, culture or etc?
Revised: No person’s ideals or cultural beliefs hold higher regard than other individuals unless it
would include harming, hurting or hindering another human beings personal success and
wellbeing. What do we practice as an economy in our ethical ways of how we should conduct
ourselves when we treat others around us regardless of color, religious beliefs, cultural
backgrounds and etc?
Note: Felt that I had used the same word too many times allowing it to sound mundane
and immature in the choice of how the sentenced flowed. The transition in the revision writing is
clearer in the point I wanted to put across.